Laura Leon

Laura Leon has received wide acclaim for her performances and recordings of an exciting roster of American composers, including Peter Schickele, Eric Ewazen, Hugo Weisgall, Leo Kraft, William Bolcom, Vincent Persichetti, Steven Rosenhaus, Richard Hundley, Lee Hoiby, Norman Dello Joio, Morton Gould--along with Sting, Piazzolla, Bartok, Hindemith and Billy Joel. These include the 2013 videos created by Karen Leon and Broken Tail Productions with film scores featuring Laura's recorded performances of two works by New York composer Steven Rosenhaus: January's Matilda Variations--extraordinary paintings of noted Australian artist Ian Banksmith with Rosenhaus' Matilda Variations, based on Waltzing Matilda; and the April release of NYC Surprising Subway Story: The Hat That Never Made It To Times Square. Recent performances include June 3, 2012 Music In Our Time American Society for Jewish Music concert performance of Hugo Weisgall songs with soprano Ena Freeman, the March 29, 2011 concert celebrating Peter Schickele's 75th Birthday Season at Steinway Hall in NYC; Heifer International's Bee Day Celebration premiering Mark Isham's Secret LIfe of Bees-Suite for Piano; Hugo Weisgall's The Golden Peacock with soprano Emily Duncan-Brown at the Center for Jewish History's symposium Imagination and Catastrophe: Art and the Aftermath of Genocide; the New York Australian Consulate-General, with the world premiere of Steven Rosenhaus' Matilda Variations and the White House/Captiol Hill's Yom Hashoah Days of Remembrance. Back in 2008, Peter Schickele gave her his PRESENTS II for Piano to premiere at her American Images from the Piano: Neo-Classic to Nature 1947-2008 New York recital. She had the honor of repremiering several violin and piano works by Morton Gould from his Suite for Violin and Piano with violinist Colin Jacobsen, at a concert honoring the composer at C.W. Post's Tilles Center for the Performing Arts. Laura was the Music Director for the Emmy-award winning documentary The Hidden Life, which aired on PBS. The soundtrack includes several of her solo performances, as well as collaborative ones with flutist Amy Ziegelbaum. She has conceived and collaborated on live multimedia works including Found in Nature: Music Visualizing a Photographer's Compositions, featuring the music by Leo Kraft, composed to award-winning photographer Barry Rosenthal's Photobotanicus, digitally animated by David Tennent. Found in Nature received its world premiere performance at Yamaha's Piano Salon in 2008. Live performances include Mannes College for Music, Queens College's Two Places: New York and Prague, in conjunction with the noted Czech artist Anna Matoushkova's New York exhibition Places-Homage to Leo Kraft, as well as a DVD showing at the Prague Museum of Music. PRO.JECT, composed by Steven Rosenhaus, with photographic images by Barry Rosenthal and Eric Jacobson, and backdrop design by Sandro LeFerla, was performed live in December 2001 at New York;s Jacobson-Rosenthal Studio. Laura has a five-CD discography on the Musical Tapestries label, which includes Changing the Pace, her classical-to-jazz/blues CD, in collaboration with renowned jazz and pop musicians, including Grammy-award winning saxophonist Richie Cannata and bassist Nicki Parrott; Preludes to Passion featuring beautiful short piano works by Peter Schickele, Eric Ewazen, Aaron Copland, Sting, J.S. Bach, Bela Bartok and more; and the internationally acclaimed Blessings of Beauty: Classic Judaic Gems with flutist Amy Ziegelbaum. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.